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The IP Court ruled that Google's sale of Gorgeous Space Co., Ltd.'s mark 「幸福空間」[the Chinese characters for “Gorgeous Space”] as a keyword advertising is a breach of the Fair Trade Act

Gorgeous Space Co., Ltd. ("Gorgeous Space") has owned the registration of Chinese character trademark「幸福空間」[the Chinese characters for “Gorgeous Space”]. Google sold the identical Chinese characters to certain advertisers, including Holin Interior Designing Co., Ltd., as a keyword advertising. As a result, when consumers key in the same Chinese characters in searching engine, the advertisers' promotional projects will be automatically linked to and revealed in a prominent part of the webpage. The IP Court held that Google's act of using the internal program to link the key words「幸福空間」to the advertisers' promotional projects does not constitute the use of a trademark, and the advertisers' promotional projects have not used the mark 「幸福空間」to promote their own services or products. Therefore, Google's keyword advertising does not constitute a trademark infringement. However, the advertisers like Holin are the interior designers and competitors of Gorgeous Space. Their purchasing「幸福空間」to be a keyword advertising is an attempt to ride on the brand awareness of Gorgeous Space's identical mark that the company has obtained through its long term endeavor.. Google not only listed the key words「幸福空間」in its recommendation to the advertisers but also kept selling the same words to be a keyword adverting after receiving Gorgeous Space's cease and desist letter. Such acts have constituted joint infringement under the conducts of unfair competition activities, as provided for in Article 24 of the Fair Trade Act.